The York girls
Camilla Tominey’s inside story of Fergie, Beatrice & Eugenie
PRINCESS EUGENIE’S future motherin-law has spoken of her excitement at her son marrying into the monarchy, with just five days until Windsor is once again swept up in royal wedding fever.
Nicola Brooksbank, whose son Jack is marrying the Queen’s granddaughter in the historic royal town on Friday, laughed off the notion of any nerves ahead of the big day, saying: “We are all really excited about it.”
It came as the Duke and Duchess of York joined the bride at a high-level meeting at Buckingham Palace on Friday to thrash out final details.
Speaking ng exclusively to The Sunday Telegraph, h, Mrs Brooksbank said: “We are hugely y looking forward to it and we are very much hoping the weather holds out. t. We hope to have sunshine shine for Friday.” Asked ed if the couple were re feeling nervous she he added: “I don’t know now about nerves. They are thrilled to o bits.”
Jack is the eldest son of f Nicola and George Brooksbank, nk, an accountant nt and company director from Wandsworth, orth, south-west st London. The couple split their time between London and France’s Bordeaux wine region, where they own a threebedroom stone farmhouse with a swimming pool. Jack, 32, has a younger brother, Thomas, who is expected to act as his best man.
In a sign of Sarah Ferguson’s royal renaissance as mother of the princess bride, she is understood to have met her ex-husband and youngest daughter, 28, at the palace on Friday.
“Fergie” has played a central role in the planning of the 11am ceremony at St George’s Chapel, which will be followed by a champagne reception hosted by the Queen at Windsor Castle and then evening celebrations at Royal Lodge in Windsor Great Park, Prince Andrew’s private home, which he shares with his ex-wife. There will then be a second, festival-themed event at Royal Lodge on Saturday. Altogether 850 guests are expected to join the festivities, including the Hollywood actor George Clooney and his wife, Amal.
Theodora Williams, the daughter of Robbie Williams and his wife Ayda Field, is expected to be a bridesmaid along with Princess Charlotte, Maud Windsor and Ines de Givenchy. Prince George is expected to be a page boy, while Eugenie’s sister Princess Beatrice is tipped to be maid of honour.
Insiders say the Yorks have been “dismayed” by reports the wedding is costing the taxpayer £2million. Much has been made of the fact that the couple’s decision to have a carriage procession around Windsor – in the vein of Harry and Meghan’s wedding – has added to the cost of the security bill. A petition, organised by the antimonarchy group Republic, urging the Government to commit no more money to the nuptials, has attracted more than 28,000 signatures.
Google Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie and the first image you will find is of the sisters wearing those infamous wedding hats. Dressed in all their finery for the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge’s 2011 nuptials, the pair stole the fashion show that day – but for all the wrong reasons.
As Eugenie’s own wedding fast approaches, and with Beatrice expected to act as maid of honour, all eyes will be on them once more.
Depicted as social butterflies who spend half their lives on holiday, much has been made of the Duke of York’s battle to have his daughters’ position as “blood princesses” properly recognised within the family. The saga forms much of the basis for Channel 4 comedy The Windsors’ depiction of the sisters as Hooray Henriettas desperate to be given more royal duties.
Friends of “the York girls” are often at pains to point out that they bear little resemblance to their caricatures. “They get a really bad rap,” insists one. “They are hardworking women who are trying to use their privileged position to champion the causes closest to their hearts.”
With a father nicknamed “Air Miles Andy”, it is perhaps unsurprising that Beatrice and Eugenie’s reportedly jet-set lifestyle has come under scrutiny. Several months ago, a story claimed Eugenie, 28, had taken 25 days off during the first 10 weeks of her job as a director of Hauser & Wirth, a central London art gallery, which she joined in 2015. And Beatrice has also been criticised for apparently taking eight holidays in 15 months.
In a joint interview with Vogue in August, the sisters bemoaned the constant brickbats, with Beatrice, 30, insisting: “We are the first: we are young women trying to build careers and have personal lives, and we’re also princesses, and doing all of this in the public eye.” Eugenie was even more punchy: “Whether you curtsy for someone or you don’t, you still work really hard and make an effort to get where you want to be.”
She also revealed how upset Beatrice had been when unflattering comparisons were made between their royal wedding outfits and the ugly sisters in Cinderella. She says: “Beatrice got really upset. She had a bit of a wobble and cried. And then, about an hour later, I had a wobble and started crying and Bea was there for me.”
Having always been close, sharing a flat at St James’s Palace for 10 years, it is perhaps unsurprising that Beatrice has found Eugenie’s engagement to Jack Brooksbank “a little difficult”.
While genuinely over the moon for the sister she “adores”, the ringing of wedding bells came after Beatrice broke up with her long-term boyfriend, Dave Clark, in 2016. They had been together for 10 years, and the Uber executive married glamorous fellow American Lynn Davidson less than two years after the break-up.
Moving to New York, where Beatrice works as the vice-president of partnerships and strategy for Afiniti, a US-based technology company, was also not easy for the Goldsmiths history graduate. “Beatrice is very family orientated, and found moving to New York quite difficult,” says a source. “She thought she would be the one settling down, but she is genuinely happy for her sister. She is a very caring girl, and can get quite emotional but she’s also very much a get-on-with-it type of girl.”
Edgier Eugenie, who shares a mischievous streak with her “partner in crime” Prince Harry, is considered the more studious of the sisters, achieving two As and a B at A-level (not long after she was reprimanded by staff at Marlborough College for frolicking naked in the grounds). She went on to read English literature, history of art and politics at Newcastle.
Having undergone spine surgery aged 12, scoliosis sufferer er Eugenie is a patron of the Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital and the European School of Osteopathy. In May, she became patron of the Tate Young Patrons
– a group of collectors and philanthropists aged under 40 dedicated to conserving historic works, and acquiring new works for the Tate collection. The source adds: “They are both very aware of their privilege but are completely devoid of pomposity. They’re fun.” Beatrice demonstrated her r sense of humour when she auctioned the “pretzel” wedding g hat on eBay, raising a whopping £81,000 for Unicef and Children n In Crisis, the charity founded by the Duchess of York in 1993. The sisters are also involved in the Teenage Cancer Trust, of which the Duchess is a long-term honorary patron.
Fiercely loyal to the family, the sisters have also had to navigate the tricky path of supporting ng their mother through a series s of PR blunders that have, at times, mes, alienated her from the rest est of the Royal family. However, as the Telegraph revealed last month, the Queen has remained close to her former daughter-in-law, n-law, and invited Andrew and Sarah, the princesses and Jack to o Balmoral in August – the third summer running Sarah has as been welcomed to the Scottish castle.
The 92-year-old monarch ch dotes on her granddaughters, whom she sees regularly at Windsor.
“The Yorks are a very tight-knit group, which makes them quite a formidable force,” a former royal aide tells the Telegraph.
Balancing careers with royal duties, it seems Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie are sisters doing it for themselves.
‘ They are aware of their privilege but are devoid of pomposity. They’re fun’